Remember When
by Anjelle
Summary: Sabo's thoughts as he's reunited with Luffy for the first time. (Chapter 794)


**So after reading the chapter I decided I really wanted to write some sappy, cheesy, disgustingly cliche drabble about a scene from it form Sabo's point of view. Hopefully some of you guys will find it a good time waster!**

 ***warnings for chapter 794 spoilers**

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There he stood a short breath away, just out of reach across the cobblestone tiles. Large, deep brown eyes stared up from beneath an oversized helmet of golden tint, and Sabo's wandering thoughts had him wondering whether Luffy always looked so small. It was an odd, almost amusing thought; he'd gotten a lot bigger since when last they met. Now that boy had gone and grown up… and yet somehow it felt no different from how it did back then. Nostalgia washed over him in waves, and he was silent a moment as the green-haired man off to the side shouted something, words he couldn't be bothered to pay any mind as his attention was sucked away by the pirate standing before him.

Luffy's eyes never flitted away and he was trapped under that stare, one that he hadn't felt in over twelve years. _Finally,_ he thought, and whatever hesitance or unease he felt was pushed aside by excitement as he grinned. "It's me, Luffy!"

"Hm? Who's 'me'?" the pirate asked, head cocked ever so slightly to the side, hands placed firmly to his hips as he stared the blond down. Eventually he shrugged the questioned off, continuing with the more pressing matter at hand. "The mera mera is a memento of Ace! If you want it then you're my enemy!"

Sabo blinked at that, and his smile softened. That was exactly what he expected the little boy from back then would say.

His brother.

Luffy's frown settled deeper and he blurted out, "And I'm not Luffy! I'm _Lucy_!" He lifted one arm to point towards himself. "Look at my beard! See?"

Sabo snickered and it was hard to hold back a laugh, amusement evident in the upward curl of his lips as he raised a gloved hand to grip the brim of his hat. He lifted it off his head, allowing it to rest absently in his arms as his grin returned, and he wondered if Luffy recognised him. Had he changed so much? "I'll never fail to recognise my brother, even in disguise."

The pirate pressed his lips together, making it no secret as he scrutinized Sabo with confusion. "Brother? The only ones who ever called me that were Ace," his voice slowed, "and…"

He felt his chest swell as Luffy's eyes widened, the boy's jaw slack as he put it together in his head, and Sabo could see that familiar sense of recollection on his brother's face as he then clenched his jaw and fought back the glossy film of water flooding from his tear ducts.

Luffy suddenly stepped back. "Sabo?"

With the call of his name the blond felt himself melt into the ground, so utterly relieved that he found his brother's hidden excitement contagious. He was impatient - so impatient to show Luffy that he _remembered_. It didn't _matter_ that his brother wouldn't know about what happened to him; he wanted to share those memories with the only one who was left from them. "Hey, Lu… Do you remember that time we stole Dadan's sake and-"

"SABO!"

A sudden weight had him reeling back with a stumble, his arms coming to hold the body now wrapped tightly around him, legs and arms holding firm around his neck and shoulders with a grip that told him he wouldn't be released so soon. It had him blinking, trying to listen to the nonsense his little brother was babbling between heaving sobs, managing to only catch a few words. He wasn't used to this - it'd been so long - but…

He missed it. And it was welcomed.

Returning the embrace with his hat-free hand, he looked up at his brother, trying to ignore the way his face was getting smushed by the boy's tightly-wrapped, rubbery appendages. "I'm glad, too, Luffy..."

 _Hey, Luffy… I remember._

"I'm so glad that you're alive."

The boy pulled back just enough to get a good look at his face, eyes bloodshot and puffy, tired, tears and snot dribbling down his face as he stared with a trembling lip. "B-but I was there! I saw-"

"I know," he murmured, his smile never to fade. His chest felt tight against the weight of his thoughts, but it wasn't enough to sully his mood. No, this moment was one he'd been waiting for ever since that day, two years ago. "Ace is dead. But you're still here. And I'm so glad you made it out of there. I don't know what I'd have done if I lost both of you"

 _I remember you and Ace, and our promise…_

Suddenly the limbs coiled around him released, the boy falling back onto the hard stone, staring absently up at the ceiling as his tears continued to roll down the sides of his face and stain the ground. Sabo simply looked down at him with a soft fondness, a hint of pride. "If you had died along with him… I would have been all alone."

 _And I'm so sorry I ever forgot._

"Thank you for living, Luffy."

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 **Adieu~**


End file.
